Scientific Journal of Maritime Research 28 (2014) 3-9 © Faculty of Maritime Studies Rijeka, 2014 3 Multidisciplinary Multidisciplinarni SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL OF znanstveni časopis MARITIME RESEARCH POMORSTVO Container transport flows as a prerequisite for determination of inland terminal1 location2 3 Tomislav1 Rožić , Marjana Petrović , Dario Ogrizović 2 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Vukelićeva 4, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia 3 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Vukelićeva 4, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia University of Rijeka, Faculty of Maritime Studies Rijeka, Studentska ulica 2, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia ABSTRACT ARTICLE INFO Container cargo flows in the Republic of Croatia have been insufficiently explored, as well as the Review article quantity and destination of containerized cargo flows between the port of Rijeka and its hinterland. Received 14 March 2014 This paper defines containerized cargo flows between the port of Rijeka and its hinterland destinations KeyAccepted words: 7 April 2014 by road and rail transport means. Based on the analysis of container cargo flows the potential location for inland terminal construction is defined in terms of shifting of container flows from road to rail. Inland terminals Container cargo flows Port of Rijeka 1. Introduction termination of the inland terminal location, for which the container cargo flows between the port of Rijeka and its Continuous international trade growth and container hinterland have to be analyzed. The analysis of container- market enlargement entails problems in the ports storage ized cargo flows will serve as the basis for the proposal of efficiency and traffic congestions. Transportation systems, potential inland terminal locations. particularly maritime transport, are faced with the grow- 2. Inland terminal classification ing demand to increase capacity and decrease transporta- tion cost toward final destinations. All participants related to the global supply chain make efforts to improve ports Ports and maritime carriers are trying to implement transport connectivity with their hinterland in order to integration with the inland (hinterland), based on suit- transport containers to the end users in the shortest time able road and rail networks [32]. Inland terminals are ob- possible, relieving container storage space in ports. The served as extended gates of seaports, through which trans- linkage between the ports and their hinterland results in port of goods can be customized to the port conditions relieving container storage space in ports. Storage space [33]. There is no single definition classifying the inland relieving without excessive investments in infrastructure objects. In available literature inland objects, as important is possible by implementation of inland terminals, where network objects, can be defined as dry ports, inland termi- all operations with containers can be performed just like nals, inland ports, inland hubs, logistic inland centres and in the port, providing quality transport to end users. Prop- freight villages [17]. er inland terminal location enables less congestion, reduc- The diversity of terminology appears in different geo- es air pollution by using intermodal transport and reduces graphical environments, offering a variety of services and overall transportation costs. functions, and includes different subjects. The classifica- Defining of the location of inland terminal affects the tion of inland objects depends on the parameters which function of the terminal together with other factors re- classify them [15]. These parameters are transport func- lated to the attractiveness of the terminal. The competi- tions (road, road / rail, road / inland waterways / road / tive advantage of inland terminal location should be the rail / inland waterway terminal), size parameter and logis- possibility of attracting additional cargo flows. This paper tics functions (only customs operations, basic warehouse will discuss the effect of containerized cargo flows on de- jobs, wide range of services, manufacturing activities, ac- T. Rožić et al. 4 / Scientific Journal of Maritime Research 28 (2014) 3-9 3. Definition of the research problem tivities of retail sale and wholesale) [20]. They are distin- guished according to the distance from the ports (short, middle and long distance) and to ownership structure The Port of Rijeka logistics infrastructure in Croatia (owned by ports, rail operators, certain regions, public- has been gaining greater local, regional and global signifi- private ownership). cance, because the Port of Rijeka is the largest and most The most used terms for describing inland objects are important port in Croatia, and it is also the end point for inland terminals, dry ports and inland ports. The men- very important branch B on the Pan-European Corridor V. tioned terms are used for defining inland objects where it The Adriatic Gate Container Terminal “AGCT” is the is possible to conduct different kinds of manipulation with concessionaire of container terminal Brajdica, constituted the cargo and activities related to the value-added serv- in 2001 as a subsidiary of the Port of Rijeka. From 2011, ices. AGCT has collaborated with the International Container Among other terms, the term “dry port” is used for de- Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), the international corpora- fining an inland object when it is important to show that tion that operates with 21 container terminals across the some object reached a certain level of sophistication re- globe. AGCT operates in a successful public-private part- garding the offered services [16] [27] [30]. nership, in which ICTSI has the ownership share of 51% The term “inland ports” represents inland objects of and the Port of Rijeka accounts for 49%. The ICTSI is mak- different types and various sizes that offer a wide range ing AGCT into the strongest port for container traffic in the of logistic services and have different forms of ownership. Central and South Eastern Europe market. In the first 20 Inland ports are usually located near production regions. years of concessions AGCT planned to invest 70 million These types of terminals are mostly used in the USA. They euro in container terminal Brajdica in order to enlarge are much larger in comparison with the ones in Europe, the annual turnover of container terminal to 245,000 con- storage capacities are much higher and the volume of con- tainer units (TEU) by the year 2015. The Port of Rijeka and tainers often exceeds several hundreds of thousands. In AGCT total turnover in 2012 was 4.5 million tons of cargo the USA 89% of containers are domestic containers that and container terminal turnover was 128,680 TEU. do not require performing any kind of custom duties. An additional problem of the Port of Rijeka is very The term “Inland terminal” is a suitable way to define a limited space for possible expansion and certainly not prospective inland object in Croatia, because it represents enough space for the amount of container cargo that is a modern intermodal terminal offering the basic func- planned in the next decade. The inland terminal imple- tions of intermodal terminals (cargo handling for different mentation will enable enough space and organization modes of transport) together with a wide range of logistics possibility for additional logistic services with enhanced services (functions). Logistics functions within the inland storage capacity. terminal depend on different participants in the owner- The railway infrastructure satisfied temporary de- ship structure, which have been integrated in the estab- mands for container transport in spite of delivery over- lishment, development and inland terminal operation. time and cargo volume on some sections are limiting the This type of terminal consists of three basic components: role of the Port. Transit railway time is up to one day be- intermodal terminal, logistic activities and transportation tween the Port of Rijeka and Zagreb in comparison to 4 corridor that has high capacity towards the port. Some of hours by truck. the mentioned inland objects are simple terminals, but The road infrastructure in Croatia is of high quality, others can represent complex objects that include logistic enabling fast and easy container transport to final destina- zones and different management structures. tion in any part of the country in favourable climate condi- Graph 1 Review of total throughput of containers and share of railway container transport in the Port of Rijeka T. Rožić et al. / Scientific Journal of Maritime Research 28 (2014) 3-9 5 tions. The government still supports road traffic, investing Authors Rodrigue and Notteboom [21, 25, 28, 29] pre- most resources in its development and reconstruction. ferred the term inland port (in the USA) which represents The Republic of Croatia has the ability to use inland the internal node of different types and sizes. The same waterways in container transport, but inland waterways authors defined the ownership structure and the basic have not been properly treated. Inland waterways in the functions of inland ports, and stated that the term inland Republic of Croatia are a part of the European traffic sys- terminal depends on the ownership structure, geographic tem. Via the rivers Danube, Drava and Sava, Croatia is con- location and functions of inland terminal. They compare nected with the western, middle and eastern part of Eu- the European and North American inland ports and their rope, by rail and road